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Title: Cd doping at PVD-CdS/CuInGaSe2 heterojunctions

Journal Article · · Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [5];  [2];  [4];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Materials Science and Engineering
  2. Univ. of Illinois, Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Center for Electron Microscopy
  4. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  5. MiaSole Hi-Tech, Santa Clara, CA (United States)

We report on direct evidence of Cd doping of the CuInGaSe 2 (CIGS) surface in physical vapor deposited (PVD) CdS/CIGS heterojunctions by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and related techniques. We find Cd doping of the CIGS near-surface region regardless of the presence or absence of Cu rich domains in the CdS for both zinc-blende (zb) and wurtzite (wz) CdS. However, we find that the Cd penetrates much farther into the CIGS when Cu-rich domains are present in the CdS. This suggests that Cu exchanges with Cd, increasing the concentration gradient for Cd in the CIGS and thus driving Cd into the CIGS surface. The Cd doping is clearly resolved at atomic resolution in aberration-corrected STEM-high angle annular dark field images. In zb-CdS/CIGS heterojunctions, Cd is shown to substitute for both Cu and Ga atoms, while in wz-CdS/CIGS heterojunctions Cd seems to predominantly occupy Cu sites. Cd doping in the CIGS surface layer suggests the formation of a p-n homojunction in the CIGS, which may account for the high device efficiencies, comparable to CBD-CdS/CIGS processed structures.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; AC02-05CH11231; EE0005956; DMR-0959470
OSTI ID:
1366899
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1398611; OSTI ID: 1435084
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-708969
Journal Information:
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 164; ISSN 0927-0248
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 15 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (5)

The role of oxygen doping on elemental intermixing at the PVD-CdS/Cu (InGa)Se 2 heterojunction journal December 2018
A short review on the advancements in electroplating of CuInGaSe2 thin films journal March 2018
Assessing the role of hydrogen in Fermi-level pinning in chalcopyrite and kesterite solar absorbers from first-principles calculations journal April 2018
Thin‐film solar cells exceeding 22% solar cell efficiency: An overview on CdTe-, Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 -, and perovskite-based materials journal December 2018
Atomic-Resolution EDX, HAADF, and EELS Study of GaAs1-xBix Alloys journal May 2020

Figures / Tables (9)